Going Home
by melmia123
Summary: My name is Catilina Rey Lockheart. As an American who knew only English, this is my most unlikely tale of how I time traveled to Japan and met a very powerful demon. My story begins three days ago before the initial contact. For you, its in the year 2034, and a horrible tragedy stuck, making my life, never the same again... Sesshomaru/OC. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Rins Unexpected Hero

Location: Kyoto, Japan (Western territory). December 18th, 1789 (18th century, Edo period). Time: 18:37 GMT.

Our scene takes place within the darkest, and deepest, reaches of the forest near a small village named Kyoto. Mountains could be seen from far off in the distance, as the sky loomed over with a mass of thick gray clouds that blanketed the earth, shielding the light sunrays from caressing the below habitat. Snow covered the great landmass, creating a blanket of its own in mimic with the sky and icicles dripped from caves that housed many a fierce beasts, which currently was undergoing a deep sleep of hibernation to ensure its own survival. It was winter in this moment of time and place, and was a peaceful one at that.

The nearby villagers were currently in their own huts, surrounded by their family and warmth of a nice fire and a decent meal for dinner. Laughter could be heard from outside some of these homes while others were quiet in preparation for their bedtime. Yes the village was at peace, and the people who reside, are quite content with their situations. Since the defeat of the horrible demon named Naraku, many other demons have been lurking for power, but because they reside on the western territory, the believe their Lord is no doubt protecting them from a distance. No further incidents have occurred since that faithful day, and they were happy.

However, that may be for the village, many miles away from the safety of the town, there was a campsite that was surrounded by three beings. One of which was a small child, roughly seven years of age, a small green creature, presumingly an imp of some sort, and a large, two-headed dragon-like creature.

Their Lord was away for the moment, and the current guardians of the child were these two unhuman creatures resting by the fire, but the child did not mind in the least. In fact, she was happily skipping around a clearance portion of the dense forest without a care. Her outfit consisted of a two-layered kimono, patterned with shapes of different hues of blue, split-toe socks, and zori sandals to protect her from the frozen elements below. The imp and dragon watched her from the distance as she became preoccupied with her own delight. She loved the snow and a smile struck her features as she concocted a mischievous plan to involve her companions in her play. She bent down and scooped up a decent amount of the cold and frozen powder with her back towards her friends. The imp noticed this and began to question the child's mysterious actions in his mind, and called out to her, "Rin-chan, Sesshomaru-sama would not like you wandering off so far from the pack!"

"Be right there, Jaken-sama," the child smiled as she compacted the substance into an oblong sphere. As she turned around, with her hands behind her back, she began to head back to the camp.

"Rin-chan..." the imp asked warily, "what is it you have behind your back?"

Her toothy grin spread across her child-like features that would warm any heart who saw, but the imp knew this façade. She was up to something, and he felt she would soon show him what it was.

"A DEMON!" she hollered, while she pointed in a part of the forest that required the imp to face away from her, a snowball safe in her other hand behind her back. As expected, he jumped up in the spot he stood, aiming his staff of two heads in the direction of the assumed problem. The next thing he knew was a soft, cold pound behind his head. She got him... Again.

He turned back towards the child, who stood with a face of accomplishment. "RIN! You insufferable child! What if it was a real demon?! Haven't you heard of the boy who cried wol-umph." Before he could finish the word, another snowball got him square in the mouth.

She was having a blast, despite the imps antics, and laughed till she fell to the snowy floor, from the scene of her friend choking down the frozen ammo.

Once he dusted off the offending debris and composed himself, he leered at his fellow ward, but in the corner oh his eye, he spotted something behind Rin, near the treeline. As his vision cleared more, he saw it. A pair of large glowing-red eyes directed towards the child.

"A d-d-d-DEMON!" he pointed aggressively behind the child.

It burst through the trees with intent to hunt as Rin stood, her chuckle dying down. "Yeah, right, Jaken-sama. Like I'd fall for that."

The imp ran passed the child, as she gave him a questionable look, "Jaken?"

He stood in between Rin and the demon, staff on the offence, just as the dragon creature stood. "Stay behind me!" The imp ordered.

As she turned around, she saw that he was indeed not lying about there being a demon behind her, and it was currently charging straight for them. "Jaken-sama, what is it?" she panicked.

It took a moment for the imps view to identify what sort of trouble charge their way, but once his mind confirmed, his beak slowly opened to utter a barely noticable, "a fire-rat demon..."

The girls eyes widened with realization. "But, Jaken-sama, your staff only-"

"I know," he interrupted, "I'm going to need you to run on my call. Ah-Un and I will take care of it."

She nodded in understanding. This was not the first time they encountered a demon without Lord Sesshomaru-sama, but this time was different. It was a fire-rat!

The beast was enclosing on them fast on its four strong legs, its sharp yellow fangs stained with blood from a previous encounter. Obviously, its hunger still unsatisfied.

"Ready..." The imp sounded.

The nearer it got, the more ready the trio prepared for their part. The dragon named Ah-Un stood next to his imp companion, ready to blast a lightning bolt at the opponent. The imp stood with the staff, the carving of the mans head directed towards the beast. The child prepared to run into the forest away from the battle, just as soon as the order would be made.

The fire-rat beast charged at its fullest speed, its feet thrumming against the frozen ground, making the earth rumble with every impact. It was getting close, and in a moment later, the imp yelled the command, "NOW!"

In a split second, the child ran straight into the snow covered forest, the only aid to her sight was the fires yellow dim that radiated against the exposed parts of the trees. Her feet sunk into deeper parts of the snow where it was hard to tell the depth, making it harder to run. Behind her, she could hear the tell-tell signs of Ah-Un's thunderbolt lightning, and Jaken staff releasing a furry of fire, simultaneously. A moment later, she could hear the roar of the beast. Rin stopped in her tracks to take a moment to look behind her. It sounded like they won, but before she could get her hopes up, she heard the beasts roar again, followed by Ah-Un's cry of pain.

"Oh, no. They're hurt!" She whimpered. Something was wrong, and the thrumming of the ground increased, indicating something was getting near. Her eyes caught a rustle of bushes as cracks of branches echoed in the forest. It was coming for her!

Her eyes widened once the beast was sighted, and her heart pounded. She began to run as fast as she could with all her might, lifting the kimono for more flexibility.

"Please! Someone! Anyone! Help!" She cried between strides as the fire-rat demon came closer to his next meal.

As the child continued running, a sound of thunder echoed through the forest, followed by a flash of light that illuminated the thick clouds above. She did not know what was going on, but did not want to look back and see that creature so close to her being. After a few seconds of this phenomenon, a loud crash was heard, followed by the wail of a particular fire-rat demon, and she could no longer hear the presence of a monster behind her.

She did not want to risk it, but she took a chance to look behind her as she was running. To her dismay, she could not properly see anything, because just as she turned her neck, she tripped over an exposed root and landed in the softness of a patch of thick snow.

She shut her eyes, waiting for the beast to finally catch and devour her, but it never came. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings.

In the distance, she saw the demon dead and pinned to a tree by something she had never laid eyes upon before. She took a moment to attempt to identify her savior, but even unconsciously making her way towards the scene, this... this thing was unknown to her. It was hard to describe, even staring at it for a while. Smoke was pouring up from this contraption along with pieces of it scattered around the forest floor. A part if it was clear and she could see through it, but from her perspective, it was hard to make out what was inside. The machine was propped up by a part of the tree that also impaled the beast. It looked as though the branch protruded the vessel through the clear part, as smoke billowed out of the cracks.

The child tried to get a better view by climbing up the tree in between the beast and the machine. As the smoke cleared, the clear part of the machine became more visual, and the child could now see the contents.

Her eyes widened once they laid upon something she did not expect.

There, laying unconscious in the machine, was a woman, and she was hurt. Apparently, the branch, that impaled both the creature and the machine, had split and one end stabed her savior on the side of her stomach.

Rin gasped at this new finding and attempted to wake the woman, but her hands could not reach her, due to some clear, hard, barrier that was part of this machine, so she banged on it with her fist, in an attempt to wake this woman.

That woman that lay there, unconsciously, with a branch jabbed into her abdomen, yeah.

That's me.

And that barrier that child is banging on... That's the broken window of a time machine that belongs to my brother-in-law.

My name?

My name is Catilina Rey Lockheart, previously Castillo, and this is my most unlikely story of how a demon fell in love with a human and how I overcame my issues, so that I may once again find true happiness.

My story begins three days ago. For you, its in the year 2034...


	2. Waiting

**Author: Hello Readers! Just letting you all know, this is my second Fanfiction tale so I hope you all enjoy. Just a heads up in this chapter, though this is a Sessh and OC pairing, I would like to emphasis that I LOVE Sesshy. Just his character is enticing! Though I have read a lot of his pairings, my favorite would have to the the SeshxKag, even though I do believe she should stay with Inuyasha, but something always told me that maybe, Sesh deserves something, or rather, someone else. I know some may say Kagura, but that never went anywhere. I want this to be a continuation of the series from Sesshomaru's perspective, after the final defeat of Naraku, and I understand adding a new character is complicating, but I want to incorporate this new persona to a point where it can feel real, and in order to that, this new character needs her own story to help better understand her 'current' situations. I want you, my readers, to fall in love with this character, just as you have fallen for the others, and with that, I want you to fall in love with THEIR love story. I, as the Author, will not speak much before and after these posted chapters, because I want this to be HER and only HERs story. I will try to insert as much ongoings between the two worlds until they collide, in which then, is when the real story can begin. Until then, these first few chapters are prologue until their first encounter.**

_**Bold Italic = Catilina Rey in 1st person.**_

oOo = Scene Breaks.

_Italic Font = Notes and readings as Perceived._

_(Italic in Parentheses) = Unconscious Scenario._

'_Italic in Apostrophes' = Thoughts as Perceived._

oOo

_**My name is Catilina Rey Lockheart and I am currently writing in my brother-in-laws research journal in a time where it is not my own. **_

_**I was born on June 7th, 2008, born with the common brown eyes and curly dark brown hair. I was born and raised in Houston, as I hardly ever left my home town. I stopped growing at 5" 2', filling into a very curvy form. I wouldn't say thin, but when I married my highschool sweetheart and had a beautiful baby girl, I guess you can say my thighs and hips grew a bit more, along with my very full breasts, which I am very happy for. I guess you can say I was a catch in the Latin community. My parents died when I was young and was raised by my grandmother, who passed just before my daughter was born, leaving me and my immediate as the sole survivors from my side of the family. My husband shared the same fate as me, except he has a brother. **_

_**Twin brother to be exact.**_

_**Though they appear the same, they were indeed easy to tell apart. I married the sane one.**_

_**Both of the blond hair blue eyed brothers were born to the Lockheart lineage, being the sole survivors of their parents, who, rest in peace, passed away on a cruise that shipwrecked off the coast of Cuba. Well, that's pretty much the past, or the future, however you want to look at it.**_

_**Where am I now was pretty easy to figure out, but locating the date was a little more harder to determine, and my struggle to get myself back to normalcy, was not helping much in my situation. I tell you all this, not for your entertainment, but because I do not want to turn insane like my in-law. A few things you should know about me, aside from my history that I just mentioned, is quite simple.**_

_**One. I knew only one language at the beginning of my endeavors. English. Even though I am of Latin decent, I was not bilingual, though my bright complexion and dark hair could confuse me for being spaniard. **_

_**Two. My profession was in the stars, as was my husband. I was project master at NASA, and was beginning a new system at a closer facility when this story began. My husband was an astronaut in training, developing and installing hardware onto satellites in the stratosphere.**_

_**Three. My first encounter with my husbands brother was horrible. I was helping my husband move out, when he made a move on me. I guess he thought I couldn't tell the difference, so when I fought back, I knocked over a stack of newspapers and books, creating a domino effect. Eventually an avalanche of old news and novels caved me and his brother stuck, and a fire department had to come and rescue us. We were there for a good four hours before I was able to emerge. Why so many newspapers? Because he's crazy. It had been six years since I last saw him.**_

_**Four. Technology from where I am from is just the same. I mean really, what could possibly be different. My phone is attached to my wrist, which can post a hologram against my forearm. TVs are thinner than a paper, and just a poorly made. Cars still don't hover, but hipsters made economy cars more common. **_

_**Okay. **_

_**So my story begins very normal. It was very late, at night, and me, my husband, and my daughter were outside looking up into the starry night sky.**_

oOo

Location: Houston, Texas, U.S.A. (North American Region). Date/Time: September 28th, 2034. 22:15 CST (Central Standard Time).

Three days before contact.

In a heavily wooded area, there sat a solitary, yet beautiful, three-story American foursquare home. The body of the home was a common black-fox shade of brown, while the trim was a sassy green, which made both colors pop in its own neat and clean way. In the backyard laid a sturdy, and elegant deck with attached gazebo of similar color as the base of the homes exterior. There were no neighbors for a good distance away, and no sound could be heard other than the quaint river that flowed further behind the backyard, and the occupants that reside in the home. That was how they liked it. No annoying neighbors, no city lights. Only other encounters would be with the calming wildlife of birds, bunnies, and deer.

The home was modernized to suit the residence, as was the floorplan an idea of the occupants, which consisted of only three beings.

A simple and ordinary family of a father, mother, and child, which were all currently on the deck of this lovely home, sitting on the patio chairs.

"How much longer, momma?" A child of six years spoke as she rubbed her hazel blue eyes from the sleep she was just woken from. Still in her pajamas, the child was slouching in her seat with a cup of milk and a plate of cookies that was placed on the table next to her. Her long dark brown hair was in tangles from her scuffle from her night terrors, that which her mother had to come in, wake, and calm her down. Poor thing. The doctor said it was common during adolescence, and the issue seemed to be dissipating, but every now and then, the mother would have to sing her back to her comfort. It was always the same song. Any other wouldn't work.

"You can't rush these thing, Emma," the child's father piped in. His dark blond hair was just as disheveled as his daughters, as he was currently relaxed in his blue and black robe. A twenty-six year old aerospace engineer with light blue eyes that became more defined when he wore any shade of blue, was nothing compared to his lunatic twin brother. You could almost see the sanity in his eyes. He and his brother, being the lone survivors of his family's descendants, shared only appearance in common, however their field of study led them to become distant and feuding. As both brothers were in the field of space aeronautics, he, her husband, was a success in her eyes, while his brother seems to distort the perceive on the teaching and seemed headed for the verge of the crazy house. She'd only received one first impression, and that was to last until the end of her lifetime. Let's just say, their first encounter consisted of calling the fire department to save her from an avalanche of books and newspapers.

"Your mother takes pride in her work, and she would like you to see a part of what she deals with. Even if it is two hours till midnight." The man smiled at his wife just has he took a sip of his morning coffee.

"Ha-Ha," the mother sarcastically laughed, "Very funny, Christopher, but if I just might interject, I recall you wanting to adopt a star at one point, because you were fascinated by my work." the mother said looking at her silver and gold watch. The woman was only a couple months younger than her husband, and quite attractive. If her name didn't already give it away, she was of Latin decent, but far be it, she did not know any other language other than English and a few phrases in Spanish. Yes, she was a sad excuse to her kind, but much is to be expected from a girl whose parent did not speak much of it. Her bright skin, brown eyes, and dark curly brown hair could confuse any onlooker, and there were many of those, as being of Spaniard descent, but she chose all her life not to look into it. Why worry about the past? Her main duty was in the here and now, and she loved it that way.

"'Wanted' to? I 'did', and she burns brightly thirty trillion miles away," her husband said.

"You know that's not exact, right?" The mother chimed before she took a sip of her green tea.

"Ah, yes. Too many numbers, but I will always remember her name." His eyes played focus onto the stars, "Catilina 4."

"Okay, stop right there. One, it was not even a star, so it can't 'burn brightly'. It was a comet and two, the only reason you named it 'Catalina 4' was cause your luck of finding it and you felt pity on me because I haven't had a breakthrough in months during that time."

"...and Catilina one, two, and three were already take..." Her husband said meekly.

Her eyes narrowed at her husband who just sat there staring back. It wasn't until a smile broke out across his face, she knew he was just toying with her, and she frustratingly gave a smile back. "You're impossible, you know that?" She said as she looked at her watch again. It was just a dozen seconds away now.

"On the contrary, I am indeed possible, otherwise I would not be here, in this moment."

"Okay, its almost time," the mother ignored his smart-aleck comment, and all at once, the three occupants of the home stared up into the dark blue sky with anticipation on a particular planet.

The moon.

"Okay, in three... two..."

And then it happened. A lunar eclipse occurred that night and she was prepared to witness this phenomenon with her family. The trio gawked at this event with such entertainment that they absolutely adored the mothers work.

"Momma, how did you know the moon was gonna disappear? Are you God?"

The mother looked at her little girl with disbelief. What does she know about God?

Sure the family was some sort of religion, but never expressed it to their daughter. They figured she would choose one when she would be older, but this was out of the blue and she didn't know what to say. Her view of religion was a bit obscured, in a way that she viewed God as energy, thus because everything had energy, it was God. Including herself. She only expresses this view to her husband, and he respected it, just as she respected he was born and raised a Christian, so much so that his mother named him Christopher! Before she could gather up some words, her husband entered the uncomfortable conversation.

"Sweety, you must be tired, since mom woke you up. Why don't you head back inside and sleep a little longer."

"M-kay, daddy." The child stood and began walking back into the house, but not before hearing her father say, "when you wake up, we can go to the park to ride bikes."

And with that, Emma closed the door behind her with a tiresome yawn.

Christopher looked over to his wife, who was lost in her own thoughts on the question their daughter asked. "It's okay, ya know. She's still too young for us to show her about different beliefs." He stood from his chair, and made his way over to his beloved, who gave a sigh of defeat.

"Yea," was all she uttered.

"She will find her path when she comes to that crossroads. In the mean time," he said attempting to change the subject, "you need to head off to work. I'm happily off today, so don't worry about me and Emma."

"Okay," the wife gave her husband a smile and stood to give him a light kiss on the lips, "I'll clean up here before I leave."

oOo

Work, today at the observatory, was pretty slow since the weather called for cloudy skies and a chance of rain, so instead, today was about tweaking the software, they were working on for NASA, and introductions of the new recruits.

By the time Catilina arrived, the team had already begun introductions to the newest additions.

"And this is Catilina Lockheart," a coworker introduced. She gave an embarrassed sorry-I'm-late smile and laid her purse on her desk, "hello, everyone."

There were a total of seven people in the room. Three of which were senior staff, including Catilina, and the remaining four were new hires. A team was indeed needed for software development for the layout of their newest project, so it was no wonder the head of the project would be her. She knew her astronomy, but was not very fluent in software development, so here her crack team was. Time to get this introduction over with.

Catilina came up to the line of men, and one woman, to shake their hands and gather their names and experience.

The truth was she knew she was not going to remember their names, and in fact it would take a few weeks to get use to them, but the job needed to be done.

First one up, man. Mid forties. Balding. "Hi my name is Charley. Masters in software engineering." His raspy voice blew the essence of cigarette.

"Hi Charley, welcome to the team," she said with a quick handshake.

Next. Woman. Early to mid forties. Short black hair. Large ears. "Hello, I'm Catherine. I majored in software development, and might I say, I admired your work at NASA!"

Catilina gave a polite smile. "Why, thank-you, Catherine. I'm sure you'll fit in perfectly." The women greeted each other, but upon contact with their hands, Catilina noticed the woman's palms were cold and sweaty, and so when the broke the gesture, she whipped her hands on her baby blue blouse.

Moving on. Man. Somewhere in the twenties. Rugged goatee. Same height. "-ello, names Jack!" Obviously, this man was brought up in Australia. His grip on her hand was mighty firm and didn't let go till his introduction was final. "Studied business ah-broad, but changed mah ma-jah to that there development when I came to tha states."

"That's nice," her eyes focused on their grip as he brought it closer to his face. "It's gonnah be a pleasure working with yah." And with that, he kissed her hand while looking up into her eyes. To be honest, the sight disturbed her, and according to the next recruit, also disturbed him. A scoff was heard from the man's lips, from the gesture, and all eyes were on him just as he faced away.

As Catilina pulled her hand away from the Australian, she moved over to the last one.

Tall. Asian. Appears to be in mid-twenties to early-thirties. Short black hair. "Hello, my name is Catilina, and you are?" She reached out her hand for a shake, but when he looked at it with disgust, he merely replied, "You can call me Roy."

With an uncomfortable withdrawal of her hand she gave a smile anyways. "Well, Roy, welcome to the team."

oOo

It was nearing eight 'o'clock in the morning and the team had spent a good portion in the meeting room discussing the layout of the software for NASA with Catilina. Many of the new recruits had helpful suggestions on the matter, as well as oppose other ideas from fellow colleagues.

"I'm telling you, this is what she wants!" Catherine's voice echoed to get her point across the fellow team. they were all currently sharing one computer terminal and inputting different codes to get to a mutual agreement. Everything started professional and proper, bit somehow, over the course of seven hours. Apparently software development and software engineering were two totally different aspects for these people. The object of this software included maintaining a telescope in space, sort of like the Hubble, but able to maneuver outside the atmosphere. If all goes well, with the presentation, not only will these agents receive a special spot in NASA, but will also expand the knowledge of the scientific community with more profound images, scans, and reading.

"No. This code is all wrong. It won't communicate with the other terminals." Charley's smoke cloud hovered above he, just as he hovered above the computer screen. Roy had left for a few moment, outside, to get some air, while Jack continued to give his input on the codes, "oy, whah bout that part there? You'll be able to commun'cate with the otha ones and the scope if yah add in this here," the Australian took the keyboard from Catherine and started to tap away as the others watched.

"But that will take away the security!" Catherine gasped.

Catilina looked at her watch as the team continued to bicker about codes and sources. It was time to go and she needed to get some rest. She set down her fourth cup of coffee, and began to gather her things to head out.

"As much as I'd live to stay and chatter, I have to get going now. Call if anything happens," she said her goodbyes, but it didn't seem to get through to them.

She hummed to herself, "Goodbye Catilina. Thank you for the opportunity. See you tomorrow." Still no reply from the others. She gave a sigh as she viewed the team, minus one because he was outside, one more time before she closed the door behind her.

On the way to her car, she spotted the missing member, peering off into the distance. Their building was surrounded by trees, and just like her home, was miles away from city lights and noises. The morning was muggy with only a few signs of dew on the grass and the sun was in the process of rising in the east.

At this moment, as she viewed the man standing against the rails of the walkway, she recalled his interactions with the team. He was very quiet the majority if the time, and only spoke a few times, even when it got hostile. Because of this, she never really got a chance to develop any rapport with this guy, and to her, this was not good for teamwork.

She had to find a way for him to interact more with his peers, and since he was on the walkway leading to her car, what better chance.

"Hey, how's it goin'?" the woman tried to initiate a conversation.

"Hn."

'Really? That's it?' she thought. "So, what do you think of the project so far?"

"My views are irrelevant. It is what you think of the project that matters. I am merely here to..." He took a pause for find the best suited words before continuing, "provide my services in experience."

"Hm. Seems fair. Well 'I' believe this project will be a grand success. With this kind of team, we may even receive an honor award. Who knows, we may even discover life out there!" She gave a radiant smile at the thought, and the man could not help but look at how delighted she was.

Gold.

This was the first time she ever saw his eyes look back at her, and her smile vanished with awe. They were golden in color and just as intense, as his gaze did not wander from hers for countless seconds.

"Well," another woman's voice entered from behind, breaking their eye contact, "I guess I'm off to." It was Catherine.

"Oh, hey! What did you think of your first session?" she asked the other female. When her eyes went back to Roy, he was already staring his golden eyes into the abyss of the forest. The large eared woman replied back, "it was exhilarating, but I have to get home and catch up on some chores, including sleep."

"Same here. My itinerary includes rest, and shopping for my daughters birthday."

"Oh, you have a kid?" Catherine began walking down the walkway, passed Roy, as Catilina followed. As they walked away, Catilina faced away and caught a quick glimpse of Roy looking into the horizon of the trees stare, feeling as though there was something quite off about this individual, but when she thought it was probably her imagination, she turned back and continued with the conversation with her colleague, only to have his sights turned towards her as she walked away. "Yeah, she's going to be eight on the thirtieth this month." She continued the conversation.

Catherine looked down as they continued to the parking lot, "I always wanted a kid, but me and my husband are waiting till the right time."

As they neared their vehicles, which were parked right next to each other, Catherine gave a polite smile, "what, if I may ask, are you planning to get for your daughter?"

Catilina pressed a button on her keychain, unlocking her car door, allowing her access to step in. After she swung the door open, she looked to her colleague.

"A puppy," was her mere answer.

oOo

"I'm home!" Catilina hollered into her home upon entering. Placing her keys in the glass bowl by the entrance, she listened for any response.

There was none.

"Hello, anyone here?" She walked from the hallway entrance into the kitchen, where she noticed a note on the fridge. It was her husband's handwriting.

_Catilina,_

_Taking Emma _

_to the park and_

_pick up the cake_

_Don't forget to _

_get her gift!_

_Send pic when_

_you see the _

_right one._

_-Christopher_

After reviewing the note, she set it down on the granite countertop to grab a bottle water from the fridge. Heading towards the living room, she turned the television on and sat down to watch a bit of current events on the news channel. Not much was happening in the area. A few deaths, traffic, weather, the oldest woman in Houston was having a birthday, war, and politics.

Usual stuff.

The news caster was a male with a deep and calm voice, which was her favorite this time of day. It would almost always seem to help lull her to sleep and her all-nighter shifts at work would definitely have an impact as well.

Sure enough, with time, enough white noise of the telecasters smooth voice, the warmth of air conditionings heat, and a nice comfortable couch, she fell into dreamland, unsure of when it began.

oOo

_(Catilina found herself in a heavily wooded forest of pines, maples, and oaks, in what felt like a day in summer. As she came closer within the trees, she noticed something was different from the bark of the massive wood. Suddenly, things began to become very foggy around her surroundings, and it was odd, given the circumstance that summer was the initial season for this time._

_The fog became denser with every step, and was becoming more and more harder to see anything passed a few feet. With no destination in mind, she wandered around without a hint of where she was, or where she was going._

_For the terror of the thought of being lost, fear, soon enough, washed over her entire being. _

_Catilina tried desperately to call for help, but no sound was uttered from her lips. She was not in control in this state of mind, and she wanted it to end. _

_Just then, as she continued walking in the direction of fog, she heard a yell that echoed into the forest._

_"MOMMY!" a child that sounded like her daughters cried out in the distance, making Catilina jump and turn towards the source of the sound.)_

oOo

The scream she heard echo in her dream was enough to wake her from her sleep. The mixture of the unconscious and reality made it hard to determine whether the scream was heard from her dream, or rather, a real life occurrence.

The TV was still on and currently playing a game show, involving guessing common answers to questions asked by random people. Most likely, there was screaming involved, so that must have been the case.

As Catilina Rey wiped the sleep from her eyes, she looked to her wrist for the time. It seemed like a short dream, but once her eyes laid on the time, it was apparent how long her slumber lasted.

14:26 and realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh, crap! I'm behind!" With that, she gathered her things and headed out to the nearest pet shop.

oOo

"That's the one!"

Catilina had spent a great deal of time, roaming around the shop, in search for the newest addition to their small family. There were many animals to choose from, but her desire for her child was a puppy, one where they could grow together, and when she saw the cutest golden-colored labrador pup, she just had to get it for her.

The puppy was in a large glass pet cage along with other puppies of different colors and breeds. Though most of the pups would wag their tails and look up at the passerbys that gawked and awed, this one was apparently still young, but very active as it played alone with a chew toy that squeaked and rattled.

The sales associate, who was around the same age as her, informed her that the puppy was a male but a few weeks old, vaccinated, and can be chipped incase lost or stolen. The paperwork was quick and easy to fill out, and she opt in to let the canine get chipped.

It was final; the labrador puppy was the one. The worker picked up the puppy to hand to her, and in response, the pup uncontrollably began to lick away on her cheek and ears. "You're a happy little fellow, aren't you!" she jollied and paced her way to the counter, pup inhand.

She set the dog down on the counter once she stepped up and started going through her phone to scroll through numerous text messages to find a particular one for this event.

Apparently, Christopher had asked their little girl, if they were to get a pet, what would she like to name it? Fumbling through her phone, she knew the answer was here somewhere, and she needed to put something down on that blank line of that paperwork, and sure enough, once she found it, she jotted it down to complete the adoption process.

'_Copper.'_

"What a nice name," the worker complimented, as she gave a visual scan of the completed adoption papers, "I'll just be right back, so I can get this processed."

Catilina played with the puppy with the complementary squeezy ball toy, which the dog was currently chewing away at, while the woman departed momentarily. His tail was thumping over the glossed floor, and was somehow able to grasp it with his two front paws, allowing him to attack with his little teeth. That is until the ball popped out from his grasp and bounced away, only provoking him more to chase it. The woman can back with the processed papers and certificate, just in time to see the playing pup and the two women smiled as the silliness of his antics."My daughter liked the name, Copper, after watching 'The Fox and the Hound' movie."

"Ah, yes. How great you show her the classics. Mine doesn't even know who all the Disney princesses are, unless they do a remake."

Catilina pointed her camera towards the puppy, now named Copper, to take a picture to send to her husband.

-Click-

_Meet our newest addition, Copper_, she texted.

With that, she attached the photo she just took and hit 'send' on her phone.

oOo

'_Why hasn't he called or texted me yet?'_

It was 18:10 and the sun was in the process of setting in the west.

'_Why isn't he picking up?'_

Catilina had been home trying to get in contact with her husband and child since she had left the pet shop. She found it odd that he did not respond to her text on the puppy, who was currently in the restroom to avoid peeing in the carpet.

She paced up and down the decorated livingroom, that was adorned with balloons, streamers, and a shiny wall banner that read, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA' in colorful letters.

_brrrrrr…brrrrr… brrrrrr… Sorry I cant come to the phone, please leave a mess-_

She hung up for the umpteenth time after another failed attempt to reach her significant other.

She had much time to decorate until they arrived, but this was insane. They last thing she knew they were going was to the park and to pick up the cake. Surely it doesn't take that long.

Time dragged on for another thirty minutes, and her impatience was long gone as it turned to worry.

Taking a seat on the couch, her mind began to contemplate what might had happened, in essence of avoiding the thought of something bad.

'_Maybe he lost his phone… Maybe he's out looking for it…'_

…

She looked at her watch again.

18:37

"I should go help him look for his phone," she said aloud out to no one.

Gathering her keys from the glass bowl next to the entrance, she looked at her phone again. She had been making this a habit since the pet shop, becoming more and more frequent at the hours passed. All for hoping, maybe he called or texted her when she wasn't looking. But…

She was always looking. Waiting. Wanting some sign that they were Okay. They got held up in traffic. Something.

She swung open the door, ready to head for her car, but there were obstacles in her way. Two obstacles to be exact, and not the two she was hoping for.

"Hello, are you Mrs. Lockheart?"

There were two police officials standing on the footsteps of her door, and in the distance on the driveway, a cruiser was parked.

"I am. What seems the be the problem officer?"

Catilina's eyebrows furrowed in confusion from these authorities sudden unwelcome appearance. They spoke in a way that was not powerful in enforcement, but rather seemed a sort of comforting way, and this tone did all but comfort.

"There has been an incident regarding your husband and daughter…"

oOo

Two days before contact.

Location: Kyoto, Japan (Western territory). December 16th, 1789 (18th Century, Edo Period). 10:58 GMT.

"My Lady, you son has arrived as you have requested," a servant from the House of the Moon introduced the young lord upon entering the Lady Moon's sukiya-style room (tea house).

"That will be all." The Lady of the Moon waved off the servant with a sway of her wrist, departing him and his completed task. Upon the servants exit, a tall, silver-haired man walked into the room, just as the attendant slid the shōji door shut.

"You called, mother?" The man stared at his female parent from where he stood, by the entrance, his noble marks on his features, easily seen from the soft light that entered through the thin paper walls.

"My dearest Sesshomaru-Chan, why do you not come and visit me more?" She pouted her lips.

The only response she received from her son was a quirk of an eyebrow and the only thing that confused his thoughts was the honorific of -chan.

"Don't give me that face! You look just like your father! Come. Sit. We have much to discuss over tea."

That must be it. She was celebrating something, and her idea of tea was saké. There was no other reason why she would have referred to him in such a manner. He reluctantly sat down on the futon, opposite of his mother.

"So, I have some wonderful news!" her saké breath was making its way over to his sensitive nose, and he had to hold back covering it, and holding his stoic demeanor at the same time.

At this point, another servant came in with a tray of all too familiar ceramics. Apparently, he was correct in assuming saké was the choice in beverage, and warm at that. As the servant began filling the Ochoko cups with the strong alcohol.

"Since I know you hate guessing games, as you always have, I'll just go ahead and tell you…"

The demoness leaned closer to her son in attempt to whisper her secret, she was soo excited to share, however, it was apparent her drinking started long before his arrival, as her 'whisper' was less than anything but. Especially when the help could also hear with her keen ears.

"Our house… has in possession… the Moonlit Stone."

With his face as stoic as ever, he replied, "you have drunken yourself insane, mother. Such a mythical rock is but a child's bedtime story derived by the humans of these lands. You have called upon me for _this_? A mere delusion from your hopes and dreams derived from a child's fairy tale? I thought you be more civil minded than this." Obviously irritated from the fact he had left his ward, travel a whole days worth, only to be greeted by his insane mother. He began to stand, but not before the Lady Moon grabbed his sleeve to listen. "I suppose you do not wish to see it then?"

"Do you feel it?" the Lady Moon questioned her heir.

"Hn."

To his surprise, he did feel something rather weak down the corridors leading to the shrine room of the mansion, though they have yet to enter the temple, he could still feel the presence from afar.

"Just wait until the next blood mood, and it'll be noticed all around Japan. Maybe even China!"

"There will come trouble if that is the case."

"Indeed there will, but as long as it is in our possession, no demon will dare oppose the great dog-demon tribe of the West."

Moments later, they were in within the confines of the temple, where the Lady Moon pulled a small wooden chest off a shelf. The box was decor with engravings and colors of the tribes symbols and colors, sealed with a small golden latch that was engrossed with a crescent moon.

"The tale if the Moonlit Stone," she began as she unlatched the lock, and open the chest to reveal a rock that twinkled a brilliance of purple light, that laid rested on a pillow that was fabrics of fine red silk and feathers. "Legend tells of a God, that that ruled all other with such power, that all others worshiped in the time of all creation. His power was infinite as he, too, created all the other gods to rule over other lands across our world. However, one fateful night, he was surveying his creations when he came across a female mortal who was mute, and could not speak. At first, when they met, she expressed anger towards this Deity, and blamed him for her struggles to communicate. The God, seeing this, gave her the ability to speak, but she was still unhappy. She expressed anger as the disability had made her unable to save her family when a terrible event occurred. She was unable to call out to them to save their lives. The God felt sorrow towards the female mortal and vowed to fix everything for her." The lady moon looked towards her son, who, to her satisfaction, was also remembering the childhood tale as he looked to the stone.

"He, being the magnificent God that he is, created a one of a kind stone to gift to the female."

"The Moonlit Stone," Sesshomaru interjected, "able to give its possessor God-like abilities, such as flight, weather control, strength, and speed."

"Ah, yes, but more importantly, the ability to cross dimensions of times and places," she finished.

"He was a fool. Why entrust such a powerful element to mere human?"

The demoness looked over to her incompetent son. "True, it is more viable in the hands of someone more than that, but, instead, he fell in love with the poor mortal." She closed the box shut, the illumining light now gone from their sights.

Sesshomaru looked to his mother, whose cheerful expression vanished as though his words severed her own merriment, but continued the tale of the God and human.

"Once she discovered how to use such a holy item, she vowed to change her past to where she could be happy once and for all, and all the while, the God watched over her. Try as she might, with the power of a blood mood, every time she tried to change something in the past, the present still revealed the death of her family. Death from fire, from flood, disease, famine… her changes never saved her family, no matter what she did. Eventually, she called upon the God who gifted her this cursed stone, and expressed how victimized she felt for having to undergo so many scenarios of her family's death. When he graced her of his appearance, out of all she had endured, her only question to him was 'why?'. He understood her question and his response to her was wise and calm. 'I have seen many things in my existence, I know all, and I see all, and this is why I wish for you to see what I already know. I have watch over you though this whole ordeal and seen the effect for every change, only to teach you one thing. Your past is your own, and no matter its outcome, your present will always be final, and it is the one that will alter your future, not your past.'"

The Lady Moon placed the box, containing the stone, back onto the shelf, and proceeded to walk, with her son, out of the shine. On their way back to the tea house, the heir questioned his mother, "No that you are in possession of the rock, what will you plan with it?" This was a very powerful element introduced to this world, and all were thought to believe it was a myth. Now, within their palace walls, there is no doubt, others will sense its power and attempt the thieves for their nefarious gains and their lands were now in danger. The female inu daiyōkai looked to her offspring, seemingly humored that he would choose interest in the device, "What ever would you do with it, Sesshomaru-San?"

"I have no use for such a thing. I only see trouble in its possession," he remarked in his expressionless way.

"Pity. I planned on giving such a gift to my grandson."

With that, the male daiyōkai stopped in his tracks, narrowing his eyes towards his mothers, "Inuyasha's miko is with child?"

The mother looked back at her son and furrowed her eyebrows, "That half-breed is not my kin…"

"I am not mated."

She smiled and turned away, continuing her steps towards the tea house. "You have come of age centuries ago. I cannot rule these lands forever, and I want grandchildren."

"That is not your choice to make."

Once they arrived back to the teahouse, Sesshomaru believed that was the end of that discussion, but in the Lady Moons mind, that was opposite of the case.

'_We'll see about that,'_ she thought to herself as she gave him a questionable smile.


End file.
